State support measures are of the utmost importance
Construction of crab catchers at Russian shipyards is comparable in cost to their construction in China, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Aleksey Rakhmanov as saying at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2023).
“Given the lead ship coefficients, the scope of state support and customs rates … the production at Russian shipyards is comparable to the cost of construction in China... China spends $12 billion a year on direct support of shipbuilding, while we have indirect support measures in Russia, including preferential leasing,” said Alexei Rakhmanov adding that the scope of state support in Russia and in other countries such as China and Norway are not comparable.
As for the share of foreign components in USC products, it makes only 0.1% in the segment of warships and up to 89% in the segment of fishing ships.
“Our key problem is a great amount of imported equipment expected by our customers of fishing vessels. There is nothing wrong with this, but the most important thing now is to get prepared for construction of all next series with Russian ship components. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is making great efforts to this end,” said the head of the USC.
As IAA PortNews wrote earlier, the Russian government allocated RUB 7 billion in 2022 for the design, creation and mass production of the most important ship equipment. According to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, this will make it possible to develop domestic basic designs of 40 types of such marine components, which will make it possible to complete the construction of more than 100 newbuilds. Allocations for 2023 make RUB 14 billion, for 2024 — RUB 1 billion.
In March 2023, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that subsidies for production of over 60 types of critical ship equipment had been provided to 37 organizations.
United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC OJSC) is the largest shipbuilding company in Russia. It was set up in 2007 with 100% federal ownership. The holding comprises about 40 companies and organizations (major shipbuilding and shiprepairing companies as well as leading design bureaus). Currently, USC consolidates the bulk of the domestic shipbuilding complex. The Russian market is the main focus of the state corporation though it also exports its products to 20 countries worldwide.